Fowler confident he can conquer Tal’s Hill

Before Tuesday, Dexter Fowler had made 10 starts and played 13 games at Minute Maid Park — not a huge amount of time to get to know Tal’s Hill, but enough that he feels confident the slope leading up to the 436-foot sign in center field won’t be a problem.

And there’s that flag pole, too.

“The good thing is the fact that he’s played in the Naitional League his entire career, he’s played here several times,” Astros manager Bo Porter said Tuesday. “So it’s not like this is the first time he’s come in to the ballpark. But Dexter’s a pretty athletic guy. I don’t think he’s going to have any trouble out there.”

Fowler bought all of his teammates a bottle of liquor, Johnnie Walker Double Black, as a gift to start the season. The team’s new center fielder and leadoff man, he could establish himself as a star this year.

The 28-year-old played shallow in Coors Field — perhaps the toughest center field to man in the majors — and he plans to continue to play shallow at Minute Maid Park.

Fowler said he will run up Tal’s Hill, too, if need be. He indicated he hasn’t had to take much extra practice to get used to it.

“There’s a warning track there, so you get a little bit of warning,” Fowler said. “I guess if it’s hit up there I’ll go up there. I won’t go up there just for nothing.”

Asked how he feels about Tal’s Hill generally, Porter didn’t give it a resounding vote of confidence, but he didn’t condemn it either.

“I don’t worry myself about too many things,” the second-year manager said. “That, I don’t have any control of. It’s a part of the field. We have to play with it, they have to play with it, and you deal with it.”